The Denver Public Schools Board of Education is in the process of choosing a replacement for Nate Easley Jr., the former board president who has served the Montbello, Green Valley Ranch and Stapleton neighborhoods since 2009.

Easley stepped down from his seat last month and will become executive director of the Denver Scholarship Fund in March.

More than 20 applications were filed by candidates to replace Easley. The school board on Monday was to have narrowed that field down to nine, then interview finalists Thursday. (For the full list of candidates, go to http://bit.ly/11lxY5A
and click on the Feb. 4 meeting.)

The vacancy must be filled by March 18, within 60 days of Easley’s resignation.

All Denver residents should be asking: What criteria will be used to pick his replacement? How transparent will the process be?

This school board has a recent history of being divided into two factions.

Will those factions come together to find a compromise candidate, someone who will listen to both sides with an open mind? Or will one faction only look to get a like-minded candidate?

Have there been a few people going behind closed doors to lobby the board and the superintendent? Shouldn’t the residents of these affected neighborhoods have more influence on the replacement than outside influences?

One benefit of age is that I have a long memory and have seen similar things happen.

In the mid-1970s, our northeast neighborhood was ripe with rumors that Denver City Councilman Elvin Caldwell was going to resign to take a city department head job and then Mayor Bill McNichols would pick Caldwell’s replacement.

Some young Turks — me included — derailed the plan by pushing for a charter change to require special elections when a council member resigned during a term.

When this issue was placed on the ballot, residents overwhelmingly agreed, and King Trimble was elected by the people of the district. It was the right thing to do at the time, and I believe the same process of a special election should be held for DPS board members who leave before their terms expire.

That way, the above questions and the rumors surrounding the current situation would be put to rest. No school board or school superintendent should hold the power that should rest with the electorate.

There are outstanding individuals on the school board who can and should insist the process of naming Easley’s replacement is open and fair.

These board members also can help change the rules and can put forward this idea of a special election.

It may be too late to have a special election for Easley’s replacement, but now is the time to move in that direction.

There will be debate on whether the cost of a special election is warranted. But there is no price tag on true democracy where the individuals — who pay the property taxes that support our public schools — choose their representatives.

Many were not surprised by the prompt verdict Monday in the sexual-assault case in Denver involving Taylor Swift. A jury of six women and two men concluded within hours that a Denver radio host had groped Swift _ grabbed her butt beneath her skirt during a photo shoot, as his wife stood on the other side of Swift.

Touch not that statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville. Let it stand, but around it place plaques telling the curious that the man was a traitor to his country who went to war so white people could continue to own black people.